A Secret No Man Can See

He wasn’t. Strapped to a chair, sweat had slowly made itself down the sides of his face. He glanced nervously at the cruel-looking machines.

“It won’t hurt, Jim. I promise.”

Promises meant nothing.

Jim watched David walk over to the machine, pressing a few buttons, before pulling out a headset. He strolled over to where Jim was sitting, but hesitated.

“Jim, we need your approval to do this.”

Jim glanced warily at the headset. David had promised to tell him a great secret, a secret that no man could ever see. He gulped nervously, the trickles of saliva sliding down his throat. His palms were clammy and dampened with sweat. David had beforehand warned him that the secret could drive him insane. Was he going to take the risk?

Jim clenched his teeth. “You have my approval.”

David gently clasped the headset around Jim’s balding head. While he set the knobs to appropriate positions, he gave a speech. “This headset allows you to go to sleep, but instead of first entering NREM phase it will directly transport you to REM phase. This is when you have dreams.” He paused.

“Dreams are a boundary. They separate the living from the dead, the waking from the sleepers. They are railways that cart our conscious mind to many universes, dimensions, worlds. They make us see what we cannot, they can bring us up to Heaven and Hell, and they can take us to the world…” David adjusted the headset on Jim’s head. “They can take us to the world behind the mirror.”

Jim closed his eyes. He was feeling sleepy…

“What is behind the mirror? Not the wall, of course. The proper question is: what is inside the mirror? Glasswork, yes, but what else? What enables the mirror to see ourselves in it? Those reflections-are they really us? Or are they an entity, which their intent we do not know if it’s malevolent or benign? What is really in there?”

David finished adjusting the headset. He glided over to the machine and punched in a few buttons. They glowed green.

“You, Jim, are about to discover what lies in the mirror. It is something that should not be taken lightly. Whatever you see there is not a lie, it is the ultimate truth. I hope you have the will to see it. Good luck.”

As he spoke those words, he switched on the lever, and Jim felt the world swirling away…

What?!

The single word echoed in his head. What was he? Where was he? Where-?

He was floating.

Floating where? In nothing. There was no light or dark; there was no objects, no air, no water, nothing. Jim was floating in a void, an abyss, an endless chasm.

He reached out, but did he? Was it his arm reaching out? Was it someone else’s arm? Was it an arm at all?

For the longest of times he simply floated there. Thoughts were racing around in his head. He tried to speak but no sound came out. He tried moving around, but he didn’t get anywhere.

He saw it.

It was a light. A small, pinpoint of light that seemed to grow bigger and bigger, until it obscured all his vision and filled up the void. It swallowed all of the nothing, the nonexistence. It swallowed him.

Suddenly, a blast of heat struck him at the face, and he heard a rushing sound. The sound was like fierce winds and gushing water, it resonated everywhere, magnified to everything. A blinding flash of light blotted out everything, and Jim saw it. He was in Heaven.

Was he dead?

He saw the door before anything. Did he reach out to open it? His hand shot forward and grasped the doorknob, which felt cool to the touch. With a mighty tug, he swung it open.

And stopped.

Because, in front of him, was something. A humanoid figure, naked, a pale white color, as though it had been carved out of stone. The figure was hunched, and blazing light seemed to emit from it.

Jim noticed wings sprouting from the flawless back. Those wings weren’t made of feather of glass or anything. They seemed to ripple out, filling every corner of the universe. The wings vibrated with color; with death, with life, with time. They were clear as of glass, more colorful than any rainbow, darker than any night, brighter than any sun. Jim shielded his face with his hands, but the light seemed to penetrate right through them.

The being raised its head, and turned its body to look at Jim.

It had no male or female equipment.

Jim opened his mouth in shock. The being’s facial features were… plain. Closed eyelids, a small nose and mouth. It wore a calm expression. It opened its eyes.

Even if he couldn’t scream, Jim tried. He didn’t scream in terror or fear. He screamed because he finally realized what he was staring at. The being’s eyes were the color of gold, not metal gold, but shining so brightly it seemed to obliterate everything into dust. Those gold eyes found Jim and he screamed because they were intense and burned into him-

You are not the last.

The words struck into his mind like a bullet, and he felt his breath being squeezed away, he was desperate for air, the light filled up everything and he couldn’t see-

Jim sat up, choking, gasping, coughing; a blackness covered his sight and he blinked rapidly to clear away the pounding of his head. He saw David standing over him, his face concerned. Jim brushed aside his helping hand.